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DePauw has new choral director
GREENCASTLE -- Renowned conductor Jan Harrington is joining the faculty of the DePauw University School of Music this fall. Harrington has been appointed director of DePauw choral ensembles.
Harrington, an active clinician in conducting and score analysis, is equally at home with orchestra, opera and oratorio. His operatic performances have spanned the repertoire from Monteverdi's Orfeo to John Adams' Nixon in China, while his choral repertoire extends from the great works of Schütz, Monteverdi, and Machaut to the masterpieces of Brahms, Berlioz, Verdi, and Mozart.
Harrington's orchestral and choral performances have been consistently lauded for their inventive programming, communicative excitement, and technical brilliance.
"We are thrilled to have Dr. Jan Harrington join our faculty as choral director for the 2010-11 academic year," dean of DePauw's School of Music Caroline Jetton said. "His wealth of experience and high profile in the music world make his appointment especially exciting. I have absolutely no doubt that the students will cherish the opportunity of singing in his choirs and learning from him."
"Our students will benefit greatly not only from Jan's expertise and choral mastery, but also his warmth and sense of humor," said Caroline Smith, Cassel Grubb University Professor in the School of Music. "Certainly his appointment brings a tremendous boon to DePauw's long choral tradition."
Harrington received his B.M. at Southern Methodist University, followed by his M.M. and D.M. at Indiana University. He held positions at the University of Oklahoma and the State University of New York at Fredonia, before beginning his distinguished 33-year career at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as Chancellor's Professor and chair of the choral conducting department.
During his entire tenure, he conducted the Indiana University Singers, and over a 10-year span served as conductor of the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. Additionally, Harrington participated in the Aspen Choral Festival, co-founded and served as music director of the Music Festival at Grey Towers, and recorded for Spectrum Records.
He continues as artistic director of Apollo's Voice, a professional chamber chorus based in Bloomington, which performs and records with Raymond Leppard and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra with such luminary soloists as Kathleen Battle, Sylvia McNair, Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral.
"It has been a joy to become acquainted with him and see his genuine excitement and energy," Jetton said. "I look forward to the upcoming year and the many positive contributions Dr. Harrington will make in the School of Music."
For more information, visit the DePauw School of Music online.